SOUTHERN HORIZONS 



we can do is to try to put the fiber in a position even- 

 tually to meet price competition fairly and squarely." 



The research project under Williams is three- 

 pronged: first, to use cotton better by developing im- 

 proved machinery; second, to grow cotton better and 

 improve the quality; third, to make cotton better by 

 modifying its properties chemically. This is self-help 

 with a vengeance. It requires the services of twenty- 

 five experts and costs $350,000 a year. 



'That's a drop in the bucket against what a chemical 

 company would do for one of its own new synthetic 

 products," said Williams, "but weVe made a start and 

 we're doing some interesting things." 



Down in Mexico, Council agronomists are growing 

 two cotton crops a year, saving half the time in their 

 plant-breeding experiments. Before the spinning and 

 weaving operations, Council chemists are impregnating 

 the individual cotton fibers to strengthen them, to make 

 them water-resistant and mothproof, to give them other 

 desirable qualities. They are spreading out cotton 

 batting and impregnating it with plastics to make 

 laminated sheets of astonishing strength. 



Government research at the beautiful, elaborately 

 equipped Southern Regional Laboratory, New Orleans, 

 is also fixing its sights on industrial uses. The guns are 

 manned by three able musketeers, Ed Gastrock, Kyle 

 Ward, Jr., and R. J. Cheatham, captained by Director 

 D. F. J. Lynch. The bull's-eye is industrial fabrics, the 



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